Changes made to storm-tracking system

Published 12:44 pm, Thursday, April 4, 2013

The National Weather Service will keep track of major storms even after they are downgraded from hurricane status, officials said Thursday.

The NWS announced the changes on its web site (http://tinyurl.com/c2vvld9). They will take effect with the beginning of hurricane season on June 1,

The biggest change will be to the monitoring protocols, which in the past ended the federal agency's involvement once a system fell below tropical storm status. Keeping track, so to speak, of a storm track longer will improve continuity of coverage, the NWS said in its announcement.

"These changes were motivated by experiences associated with Hurricane Sandy last fall,'' officials said. "The first of these changes gives the NWS the option to continue issuing formal advisories on post-tropical cyclones, in those cases when the system continues to pose a significant threat to life and property, and when a transfer of responsibility to another office would result in an unacceptable discontinuity in service.

"The second change would give the NWS the option to keep hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings in place for those systems.''

Hurricane warnings are issued 36 hours in advance of a storm expected to bring sustained winds of 74 miles or more per hour, while the less urgent "watch'' is posted 48 hours in advance of sustained winds of at least 64 m.p.h.

Tropical storm watches and warnings are issued for storms expected to carry winds of at least 39 m.p.h., according to the NWS web site. Previously, once a storm system's wind force fell below 39 m.p.h. the federal agency would often hand off monitoring and tracking to state and local meteorologists.